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| Orange and
Ginger Tea Cooler as featured in
Cool
Food |
1 Quart Brewed Fruit or Floral Tea *
1 C Orange Juice, freshly squeezed
1 1/2 C White Rum (optional)
1/2 C Gran Marnier
2 8-oz. Bottles Ginger Beer (non-alcoholic)
In a large, clear
glass pitcher combine the brewed tea,
white rum and Gran Marnier. Chill. Just
prior to serving, add the ginger beer.
Taste for balance and adjust to your
liking. Garnish pitcher and glasses
with orange slices, mint leaves and
colorful drink umbrellas. |
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Keeping and being cool in the summer is a sipping
thing. For a lot of folks today, iced-coffee is
the best beverage of the summer, but most believe
you have to rely on coffee houses to get your fix.
While this drink is more than simply throwing a
couple ice cubes into your morning brew, it is still
easy enough to do at home. You’ll need to
start with a coffee concentrate or the drink will
end up pretty weak. Iced coffee is all about a cold-press
coffee maker. Sometimes called a “coffee-toddy”,
these simple and inexpensive devices allow you to
“cold-brew” your coffee into a concentrate
that you dilute with water for iced coffee or water
and milk to make a great latte. You can also add
flavor, like vanilla
syrup or hazelnut
syrup, to your concentrate to make a knockout
coffee beverage that is just phenomenal over ice.
On a chilly summer’s morning when you would
rather have hot coffee, just add hot water to your
toddy concentrate for the perfect cup of jo’.
As good as iced coffee is, some people prefer to
chill out with iced tea. Making iced tea, as opposed
to using those powdered “iced tea” mixes,
is simple and satisfying. You can choose to go the
old-fashioned route and fill a glass jug with water
and tea (either bagged or loose is fine) then leave
in the sun to brew. Personally, I’ve never
been able to wait that long. Another fine option
is to brew the tea as if you were going to drink
it hot but increase the amount of tea to water to
make it strong, so it won’t be too diluted
once you add ice. Recommended blends for iced tea
are Mango
Ceylon (black), Pomegranate
Green Tea and Organic
Mint Fields Herb Tea, all by Republic of
Tea. All are refreshing while lazing on the porch
or quenching your thirst after a hard day of play.
Seviche (Ceviche, Cebiche), sometimes referred to
as ‘Latin sushi’, is raw fish “cooked”
by the acids in lemons, limes or oranges. One theory
dates seviche back to ancient Peruvian and Ecuadorian
Incas, while others believe its origin to be Arabian.
Regardless, seviche is the quintessential summer
meal. The key to seviche is sourcing sushi-quality
fish or seafood; therefore, a relationship with
a respected fishmonger is in order. In the metro
area, Coastal Seafood and Captain Select are two
fishmongers dedicated to sourcing the freshest fish
and seafood available. If you’re new to this
great dish, check out books such as Fish
by Mark Bittman. Recipes for seviche call
for a wide range of fish, from scallops and oysters
to salmon, halibut, tuna, snapper, sole and flounder.
Onions, tomatoes and hot peppers are traditionally
marinated with the raw fish in a combination of
citrus juices. A fresh twist on seviche finds ingredients
like avocado, ginger root, garlic and cucumber adding
layers of flavor and texture. The fish is marinated
2 hours to overnight. The seviche turns from translucent
to firm and opaque. Dinner is as easy as throwing
open the door of your refrigerator, pulling out
a beautifully chilled bowl of seviche and tearing
off a hunk of crusty bread for a bold, refreshing
and memorable meal. Go ahead. Let citrus do the
cooking tonight!
While lady’s luncheons may bring visions of
formal china and vichyssoise, these days chilled
soups are an haute culinary trend. Today’s
celebrity chefs add their unique twists to time-honored
classics while diners applaud the refreshing results.
From Spain we have the lovely Ajo Blanco con Uvas,
a cold, garlicky soup using fresh almonds, breadcrumbs,
grapes and ice. The Andalusian region in southern
Spain made Gazpacho a household word. A long list
of summer garden produce with cumin, basil and oregano
are blended and chilled for a heavenly meal on a
warm night. France, not to be outdone, has some
spectacular chilled soups as well. Soupe de Concombre
is cucumber, lemon juice, feta cheese, nutmeg, olive
oil, salt and mint blended together and served cold.
Okroshkas are Russian cold soups utilizing readily
available radishes, beets, eggs, cucumber, onions
and dill. Thai Watermelon Soup with Lump Crab is
fiery hot with Thai peppers, and then immediately
cool with the icy watermelon broth. Now onto dessert!
There are gorgeous chilled fruit soups that taste
as dreamy as they sound. Apricots, berries, melons,
peaches, citrus and plums take starring roles in
simple soups you can make ahead and enjoy with friends.
Making these chilled, blended soups is a breeze
when using an immersion blender. An immersion blender
is a tall, narrow, handheld blender with a rotary
blade at one end. The Bamix
immersion blender is touted for ease of
use and effortless clean up.
Salads are the Summertime-Supper-Super-Heroes of
the kitchen, rescuing overheated families from hot
tempers in a flash. Shopping for your salad, whether
in your backyard or on your way home from work,
is half the fun. Build your salad based on your
cravings, starting with the greens. Your garden
is a veritable salad bar without the sneeze guard
so go crazy harvesting green beans, tomatoes, corn,
carrots, beets, radishes, tomatillos, zucchini,
cauliflower, asparagus, berries, peppers, garlic
and herbs. Once you’ve hauled your harvest
into your kitchen, it’s time to wash and chop.
A salad
spinner is an indispensable tool in the
kitchen, making cleaning lettuces and herbs a breeze.
Now it’s time to whip up a quick vinaigrette.
The recipe for a simple vinaigrette is: 1 part vinegar
to 3 parts oil, salt and pepper. Place ingredients
in the jar of a Personal
Blender, an indispensable kitchen tool,
and buzz to incorporate. The addition of spices,
herbs, shallots, onions and mustard jazzes up your
vinaigrette, while a pantry stocked with a variety
of flavored oils and vinegars gives you the right
to don the super hero robe for dinner. Finally,
the addition of nuts (sunflower, peanuts, walnuts,
soy nuts) and/or your favorite cheese makes an ordinary
salad an extraordinary salad. On that note, thinly
sliced saucisson (French smoked-cured sausage) or
thinly sliced deli meat makes for a heartier meal.
Good crusty bread is a must with a bountiful summer
salad, served with a bit of good olive oil for dipping.
A nice bottle of chilled Spanish Rose and a feast
from the garden whipped up in moments - summer in
the city never tasted so good.
Nothing tastes better in the summer than a cool
treat. But who wants to leave the porch to go to
the ice-cream shop, creating a sticky mess, when
you can make customized ice cream at home? When
you make your own, you control the quality of ingredients
and can choose any flavor combination you’d
like. In addition to vanilla (use the seeds from
a vanilla bean) or chocolate (high-quality dark),
you can also add fruits, herbs or spices. As for
the process of churning and freezing the cream,
there are several options. The most basic is a hand-crank
maker with a pull-out bowl that you keep in your
freezer until ready to use. You can also use an
electric ice-cream maker that churns and cools by
itself. Cuisinart has several models, like the Pure
Indulgence ice cream maker and the Supreme
ice creme maker, that can make your kitchen
the most popular ice creamery around, not to mention
the perfect tool for frozen yogurts and sorbet.
However, I’ve even seen ice cream made in
a plastic baggie inserted in a freezer bag filled
with ice and rock salt, then tossed around in the
backyard! Sounds unbelievable but it’s true.
This all goes to show that making ice cream is not
something you need to leave to the professionals.
A high-quality pressure cooker is probably the coolest
tool in your kitchen. Love the idea of fresh, Minnesota-grown
sweet corn but hate to wait for gallons of water
to boil? You can perfectly steam sweet corn in a
pressure cooker in as little as 4 minutes! Imagine
coming home from work on a hot summer’s evening,
craving braised lamb shanks with fresh rosemary
and white beans but hating the idea of turning on
the oven and heating up the kitchen, not to mention
hours of work. With a pressure cooker, you can make
this dish in under an hour. You can find a recipe
for this and 100s of others in Lorna
Sass’s book, Pressure Perfect. In
no time at all, you’re plating up a delicious
dinner in the cool of your kitchen. Kuhn Rikon makes
wonderfully modern pressure cookers in all shapes
and sizes, like the 2.5
liter frypan pressure cooker, 3.5
liter pressure cooker and 8
quart pressure cooker. There is one suitable
for all your pressure cooking needs.
Rice dishes have always been a main-stay of summer
cooking. You can clean out the fridge and have a
delicious, quick meal. To make it even easier, let
a rice cooker do almost all the work for you. A
good rice cooker saves both cooking time and frustration,
sending out only a little mist of steam into the
air instead of making more heat in an already hot
kitchen. Instructions for the rice cooker are as
easy as pouring an easily measured ratio of rice
and water into the machine and returning 30 minutes
later for perfectly cooked rice. Use stock as the
cooking liquid, add some veggies and seasonings,
and you’ll have a one-pot meal in no time!
You can even make a pseudo risotto by using chicken
stock and asparagus, then stirring in a little butter
and a lot of parmesan cheese after the rice is finished
steaming. Easy to cook, easy to clean, healthy and
tasty – what’s better than that in the
summer? Zojirushi's rice cookers come in a variety
of sizes like the 6
cup rice cooker and the 10
cup rice cooker. Each offers a unique set
of features.
If there is a kitchen appliance handier than this,
I can’t think of it. Slow cookers allow you
to throw your ingredients together in the morning,
set the temperature and go to work (or better yet,
the beach)! When you come home, you’re welcome
with the smells of all-day cooking but you haven’t
lifted a lid all day! You can have a meal that tastes
as if you’ve had the oven on for hours but
not feel a wave of heat. And while most people think
of a hearty chili or stew when they think of slow
cookers, they are not just for winter fare. Slow-steamed
artichokes, southern-style baked beans and Caribbean
Jerk chicken can all be made in your slow cooker.
The All
Clad slow cooker and Cuisinart
slow cooker are both top-notch and sure
to fit your needs.
Across the patio a siren’s song calls you,
lulling you into a trance as you dance your way
to a tray of colorful summer cocktails shimmering
in the evening heat. The tiki bar acts as an oasis
in the midst of a hectic, hot, humid summer and
at first sip you realize that exotic summer cocktails
are the nectar of the gods. Vintage warm-weather
cocktails, made famous in supper clubs, include
tequila margaritas, rum pina coladas, strawberry
daiquiris and the very southern bourbon mint juleps.
Thoughts of these sippers bring one question to
mind: what would Cary Grant drink? When it was sultry
outdoors, what would Mae West choose to wet her
whistle? Would John Wayne have been caught with
a cocktail served in a coconut? Modern times have
brought an updated version to the drinks of yesteryear.
Vodka now comes in a multitude of flavors, from
sweet fruity vodkas to peppery hot. Rums come spiced
and laced with coconut, and even beers see the addition
of herbs, berries and citrus. The Spanish have graced
us with sangria, that magical concoction of wine,
mint and fruit served in big glass pitchers. Mojitos,
the potent drink of Cuba, combine rum, lime, mint
and seltzer for a potion tasting too perfect to
be dangerous. Chef Beth Fisher beats back the heat
with a trendy new cocktail. Ginger Rum Punch is
the color of summertime, and with glass in hand
at your own patio party, you may feel the flash
of paparazzi bulbs searching for the libation of
Hollywood’s newest star. Try making a pitcher
of this tasty drink to enjoy on your patio. We have
included the recipe in this article or try the Orange
Ginger Tea Cooler in this months featured book Cool
Food. Enjoy and stay cool!
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